Flyers lose goal on challenge, settle for 2-1 OT defeat

PHILADELPHIA – “We thought we had it won.”

Those were the words of Flyers coach Rick Tocchet immediately after the Flyers suffered a 2-1 overtime loss to Edmonton on Wednesday night.

It appeared the Flyers’ Travis Konecny had scored a goal with 23.5 seconds to play to take the lead.

But the Oilers challenged, claiming Philadelphia’s Owen Tippett was offsides on the play.

And they won the appeal. The game went to overtime and the Oilers Jack Roslovic scored just 1:19 into the extra session, handing the Flyers a 2-1 loss at Xfinity Mobile Arena.

That verdict extended the Flyers’ home winless streak to four games (0-3-1).

The Flyers have had a handful of games decided this way but each outcome is painful in its own way.

After a slow start, the Flyers finally got it in gear as the game progressed.

“There were some stretches where I liked our game,” Tocchet said. “We started coming the second half. With (Connor) McDavid and (Leon) Draisaitl on the ice and for them to only have two goals, that’s impressive. That’s good confidence for some of the guys.”

Players go offside all the time. But this play was under the magnifying glass because it was so crucial to the outcome.

“It happens I guess,” Tippett said. As for the outcome, he added, “Yeah, it hurts. I think we kind of stuck with it with a team like that. Twenty seconds left in the game and nobody knows on the ice it’s offside. It definitely stings.”

Nobody was pointing any fingers, including Konecny, who thought his deflection of a Travis Sanheim shot most likely would have been the game-winner.

“Stuff happens,” Konecny said. “I was over it pretty quickly and was on to the next.”

Konecny agreed with his coach that the Flyers did a good job of keeping most of Edmonton’s high-powered offense to the perimeter. This Oilers team has been to the Stanley Cup Final the past two years.

“Just being patient,” Konecny said. “Waiting for them to make mistakes. Then we go to offense and take over. You watch a lot of film, understand what makes them good and counter it. I think we did a pretty good job for the most part tonight.”

Noah Cates probably summed it up best. There’s no point in dwelling on what might have been. The correct call was made and all you can do is shake it off and move on.

“You kind of expect it sometimes with the bounces,” he said. “We just have to flush it and reset. It’s a tough break. Wish it (the Konecny “almost goal”) had counted but stuff happens. Wish we got the point at the end there.”

Tocchet still saw the positive side of the outcome against a quality team.

“We’re working on it, these guys are trying,” Tocchet said. “It’s another point. Have to give these guys a lot of credit. I’m proud of them.”

Heading into the later stages of the second period, the Flyers were lucky to be down only 1-0 as they were on the short end of a 24-6 shot count.

But the Flyers tied it on a power-play goal by Matvei Michkov, who has now scored in three straight games after producing only two goals in his first 13 matches.

Michkov gained control at the top of the left circle and his shot eluded goaltender Stuart Skinner at 15:38 with Cam York getting the primary assist and Konecny adding the secondary to run his point streak to eight games.

It was a sluggish start for the Flyers, who were outshot by a 13-5 count and outscored by a 1-0 margin in the first period.

Dan Vladar managed to keep the Oilers at bay until the final minute. Then McDavid wound up with the puck just below the right hash marks. He found defenseman Evan Bouchard wide open at the top of the slot and the goal light went on with 54.6 seconds left.

>Short shots

Flyers center Christian Dvorak entered Wednesday night’s game having won 46 of 69 faceoffs in the defensive zone. That’s a 66.7 percent success rate, third-best in the NHL. The league leader? Ex-Flyer Claude Giroux, 71.4 percent.

Last season the Flyers were among the league leaders in blocked shots. This season the team is among the league leaders in plain old limiting shots allowed. Prior to the Oilers game, the Flyers stood third in the NHL at limiting shots, averaging just 25.1 shots per game. The only two teams better were Utah (24.0) and Florida (24.7).

The Flyers start a two-game road trip on Friday night in Dallas, then play on Saturday night at St. Louis. Both games start at 8 p.m. The Flyers are 2-2-1 on the road. After that, they don’t resume action until a home game against the Blues on Thursday, Nov. 20.